Search This Blog

The Heat: China's two-child policy Pt 3

It has been more than two years since China abandoned its decades old one-child policy. Since 2016, all Chinese couples are allowed to have two children. But, so far the results have been mixed. Last year, China had 17.2 million live births, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That number represents a small drop from 2016 when the number of children born in China reached 17.9 million. Despite the change in policy, some families still prefer to have just one child. The reasons include issues like the cost of raising children, housing, child care and fewer women of childbearing age. To discuss: Baozhen Luo is an associate professor in the department of sociology at Western Washington University. Song Zhang is the chief correspondent for the Shanghai Wen Hui Daily in the Washington D.C. Bureau. Wang Feng is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine and the former director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy. Richard Jackson is the president of the Global Aging Institute.